28 June, 2013

Could anything be more conservative than gay marriage? — MSNBC

Could anything be more conservative than gay marriage? — MSNBC: The institution of marriage is without question less robust than it once was. Conservatives aren’t wrong about that. But that isn’t because gay people want to get married. It’s because many heterosexual people don’t want to get married, or stay married, often in reaction to patriarchal and other social and economic constrictions that critics like Ehrenreich have written trenchantly about. Endorsing gay marriage doesn’t compromise conservatives’ disagreement with such critiques.

The right should be shouting hallelujah that Windsor makes the “gay lifestyle” about wedding ceremonies, not bathhouse orgies. Of course, gay people should be free to be monogamous or promiscuous, just as heterosexuals are. But that’s not what gay marriage is about. It’s about behaving more conservatively. Why can’t conservatives appreciate that?